Utva Aviation Industry (commonly known as UTVA) is a Serbian manufacturer of

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

aircraft, subsidiary of

Yugoimport SDPR Yugoimport–SDPR ( sr, Југоимпорт–СДПР, Jugoimport–SDPR) is a Serbian state-owned weapons manufacturer as well as intermediary company for the import and export of defense-related equipment. It is headquartered in Belgrade, w ...

, headquartered in Pančevo.

History

Utva was founded on 5 June 1937 in

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

, since 1940 located in Pančevo, produced simple gliders. In 1939 Utva began manufacturing light piston engine aircraft. During the

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...

in 1999, the factory was heavily damaged. In 2017, Serbian defence company

became the majority stakeholder of Utva with around 96% of total shares.